Finding Identity In Ralph Ellison's 'Invisible Man'

Gabby Peitsch
English 12 Honors
Frank
Period 5
Invisible Man
The title of the novel I read is the Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison. The title enforces the novel’s theme of finding an identity as a black man in the 1930s. The protagonist is an unnamed African American man who tries to succeed in a society that wants him to fail. He calls himself “an invisible man” for he gives himself no name. He feels invisible, but is simultaneously okay with that to stay out of harm's way. An identity includes personality and how one describes oneself. He claims others disregard his achievements and only focus on his race. He is also deemed as invisible to the black community because he is never given a name or is never in agreement with the brotherhood’s
The narrator realizes this in Chapter 6 when Mr. Bledsoe reinforces how racism will affect his life. “For three years I had thought of myself as a man and here with a few words he'd made me as helpless as an infant” (144). Mr. Bledsoe explained how life will be for the narrator because he is black. Whites will only focus on his race, which is demeaning for an ambitious, young black man. The narrator also found that even the most educated blacks are not given the power they deserve. He was “torn between anger and fascination, hating (himself) for obeying...Negroes don't control this school or much of anything else” (142). The narrator is continuously reminded of the prominent racism, which discourages
The narrator is unable to fight stereotypes despite hard action taken. One of the members of the brotherhood said, “They white, they don't have to be allies with no black people. They get what they wahnt, they turn against you” (375). The superiority of whites shapes the narrator. He wants be respectful, but being respectful doesn’t benefit his life. It only makes him submissive to overruling power. Mr. Bledsoe said to the narrator, “When you buck against me, you're bucking against power, rich white folk's power, the nation's power – which means government power!” (142). Mr. Bledsoe is a mentor for the narrator because he is a black man with power. Even though his authority is lesser of a white man, he still gets the respect the narrator wants for himself. The uneven balance of power in the novel represents life in the 1930s.
The setting is in Harlem, New York and the South in the 1930s. Both areas in the country have racial discrimination, but there is more racial freedom in the North than the South. However he is still discriminated against in southern college. During this time in America the Harlem movement and other racial movements were occurring. The protagonist is stuck in the middle of this issue and is trying to find himself in a world that deems him as invisible. At the college and in the workplace, the narrator finds himself in confrontations due to his